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I'm new to this, so don't beat me up too bad.

 

1. Is there a good place to learn pfsense? book? YT vids? I want to know as much as I can what this thing has packed. I do agree, best way, is actually DOING it, but if I fly in blind, I might hit the Boeing 787...

 

2. I read several places that they make old hardware into pfsense routers/firewalls. Using old desktops/laptops. As long as the bare minimum for pfsense is met. Is this, say, practical?

 

Reason I ask, a guy on YT, makes his old laptop into a pfsense machine, and gets a PCMIA card so he has both ethernet on the card and onboard.

 

I happen to have an old frail laptop, Dell Vostro 15, that sounds like it should work flawlessly. It has a PCMIA slot as well. I see PCMIA cards on eBay for just $8. Again, is this practical?

 

Waits for @BudManor any others who knows how to get me started.

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While sure its practical.. And would be a way to get started with pfsense using an old laptop..  You can get the book for $24 or you could buy gold and get a epub or pdf version. 

https://www.netgate.com/blog/pfsense-book-now-available-for-purchase.html

 

https://portal.pfsense.org/members/signup/html-book

 

At some point you prob want to graduate from an old laptop as your router ;)  I was running mine as a VM, which worked great but as the hardware got older and my isp got faster it could no longer keep up.. So I went big and got the their actual hardware https://store.netgate.com/SG-4860.aspx It is a bit on the high end for a home budget.. But go big or go home I say.. I was thinking of the sg3100 model, but then said screw it..  Got myself a nice xmas gift hehehehe

 

I have spent more on a TV when you think about it..

Its a entry level option sure.. If you want to play with some of the packages like snort and ntopng, etc.  It might not have enough umph it...  But if all you want to do is route and firewall then yeah would be great entry level. 

 

Yes you would need a switch... And I would make sure its smart so you can do vlans..

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